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Stuart Broad will be hoping to claim his first win as captain when he leads England out in their sole Twenty20 international against India at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
Broad tasted defeat against Sri Lanka in his first foray into captaincy earlier this summer and will be hoping to guide England to victory after two successive defeats that followed up their world record eight straight Twenty20 victories.
That run culminated in England’s Twenty20 World Cup final victory against Australia in the West Indies, and Broad will be hopeful of getting back to winning ways with a strong performance against an Indian side that boasts some big names.
India have responded well to their 4-0 whitewash loss in the test series against India with three straight victories over English county sides including the newly crowned T20 Champions Leicestershire, and will be hoping to give a better account for themselves in the shorter from of the game than they were in the test arena.
England have opted for a mixture of youth and experience as they look to keep their unbeaten summer going, with the likes of Alex Hales, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes all included in the 13 man squad alongside regular members Graeme Swann, Eoin Morgan and Tim Bresnan.
Kevin Pietersen is included in the squad despite being left out of the squad for the five match ODI series against India that gets underway next month, while Ravi Bopara is in contention to start despite his recent woes with the bat.
Virat Kohli, Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar, and R. Ashwin are all in contention for a start for India having missed out on the test squad, while Sachin Tendulkar will once more set his sights on scoring his 100th international century for his country, something he failed to do during the test series.
Kohli and Rohit Sharma have impressed in India’s three warm up games and should start at Old Trafford, while Partiv Patel was in the runs against Leicestershire on Monday and should feature against England.
Despite his persona as something of a slow run accumulator Rahul Dravid is also in the squad having top scored for the visitors during the test series and should bat at number three.
Match Odds
England are favourites for the game given their title as World Champions, but form is a worry for the home side.
England are 69/100 @ Betfair for the game with Betfair while India trail behind 129/100 odds it may be worth backing the tourists at given the unpredictable nature of the shortest form of cricket and the experience gained by the away side in the IPL.
English conditions will once more play into the home side’s hands, but with Tendulkar and Dravid on board along with a host of exciting young talent, this really is anyone’s game.
Man of the Match
The temptation remains to back Eoin Morgan as England’s most influential player in the shorter game for the man of the match award.
The Middlesex batsman has earned a reputation as one of the most skilled finishers in the game while his run accumulation is excellent, and at 12/1 @ SportingBet he could be the right man to back, but while he may be at shorter odds, Kevin Pietersen may well be the man to light up the game.
Pietersen claimed the man of the series award at the Twenty World Cup last year and was the leading run scorer during the test series, so will relish an opportunity to free his arms, and at 9/1 it could be wise to back the Surrey man.
For an outside bet, Stuart Broad could claim the award after a good test series, and has the ability with both bat and ball to change the course of the game, and at 16/1 may well be worth a few pounds.
Highest Score
While the usual suspects are there or there abouts, Morgan should be the man to lead the way.
His ability to find gaps and up the run rate late on in an innings is second to none and his form has been excellent of late, following up a hard fought century against India by top scoring in the game against Ireland. He’s at 9/2 @ SportingBet, while Parthiv Patel could be a force to be reckoned with after his knock against Leicestershire, and is also at 9/2.
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